A few of my favorite things...

I'm trying not to drool.

Loeffler Randal
Zac Posen
Sigerson Morrison

and also...
Samantha Treacy
James Perse


thank you notcouture for impeccable taste and inspiration.

Image of the day

I was dreaming of the past, and my heart was fading fast...

I had a dream the other night about Sean Lennon.

It was after I had stumbled upon his myspace page and had gone through some of his pictures.

In the dream he was sitting down, playing the guitar and singing to a thin, beautiful woman standing next to him. He was brightly lit from behind. It was exactly like one of the pictures on his myspace page, except it had come to life.

He kind of looks like Rama.

God I Miss Westwood

I miss L.A.

Really, I never thought I would find myself saying this but I do.

The feeling of walking down the street with the throngs of other people, adding to the pulse of the city. Having a place to go, a thing to do and people to see.

It's different in West Covina. It's suburban. You drive everywhere. It's less diverse.

Then little things like sitting at a cafe and having a latte, no knowing where to go to get a nice manicure, or being able to meet up with friends because you live 30 miles away.

It's a lot quieter here, If I didn't know who I was, I would probably get lost.

Alright enough of that. Things I miss from Los Angeles:

1. People: People on the streets, people speaking english, spanish, farsi (yes, farsi) people asking for money, directions, recommendations. Just people.

2. Food: I'd really like to find a place where I could have a nice sandwich and fresh salad. I'm sick of boba and ramen.

3. Shopping: I'm not trying to be materialistic, but I miss shopping. Not that I shopped a lot when I was in L.A. but I miss the opportunity of shopping. I miss Flax, in Westwood. I miss third street promenade, the Century city mall. I miss NICE stores (the mall here has a mervyns, yes I know I'm a snob). I miss Zara and Mango and H&M. I miss Borders! The closest borders is 12 miles away! I miss Traders Joes and Whole Foods (closest are 15 miles away).

4. I miss walking.

5. Friends, or running into friends, or being that friend that people visit when they come to L.A. or meeting up friends for happy hour.

6. My old apartment, its bright green walls.

But I am determined to like my new home. Now, if I just had time to get out and find something to like. Something besides being 5 miles away from an IKEA.

Adventures in Publishing

My good friend Nikki, with whom I worked at Regan Books has told me she may or may not be interviewing for the position of Anna Wintour's assistant. Yes, the Devil Wears Prada position. She worked for Judith I suppose she can work for Anna. Either way, our thoughts and prayers are with you Nikki.

Borat, that loveable hug able Kazakh is going to be at my Borders tonight. :::sigh::: All signs that I quit working there (and moved from Westwood) too soon.

Some guy spent a year of his life ascribing to the 700 rules written in the old and new testament and wrote a book about it. Making me ponder ideas for my own stunt memoir. Any suggestions?


Lastly it's National Novel Writing Month, reminding people like me that people who have no talent and ambition are doing what we should be doing and are too lazy to do. Brarg.

Airport Security, and How to Offend Them Properly

Remember the time I went to Bulgaria and tried to bring a two-hundred-dollar bottle of Cognac in my carry-on? Remember how we got stopped by security who told us they'd have to confiscate it?

Ok, now, remember how I offended the security officer by telling him to take it, 'cause he was going to drink it anyway, and he got pissed-off, and made us wait in the bomb check to see if our bottle of cognac was liquid explosives?

Well fuck that guy.

Turns out the security guards don't take the items for themselves, oh no, they wouldn't do that.

They just SELL YOUR SHIT TO OTHER PEOPLE.

Eww...

You know what really grosses me out? I mean, besides the fact that people at my work clip their finger nails at their desks and talk on their cell phones in the bathroom...

The fact that Dandruff is caused by a fungus that sexually reproduces on your head.

disgusting.

Over before it began

"Attention heroes: Colbert drops presidential bid"

Although it was fun entertaining the idea.

Things I love

I have a couple must reads in what I like to call my "Blog Rounds" which include (shamefully) Perez Hilton (several times a day, he updates often until about 6pm), Jezebel (also several times a day, never fails for thought provoking, pants-peeing funny content), Nerve (once a week for personal essays), Slate (when I'm really bored), Pop Candy (once a day), Valleywag (once a day) and Underwire (once a day).

And on these numerous sites there are just some columns or weekly bits I just HAVE to read when they are up. Among them include the Snap Judgements on Jezebel, Ask Tionna on Gawker and Crying in Restaurants by Sarah Hepola.

If you get a chance to read these please do and let me know how you like them. I just want to share the love.

Jezebel Happy Hour this Friday!

My numero uno favorite blog Jezebel is having a west coast commenters happy hour on Friday at 10pm downtown and I just HAVE TO GO!

Can I persuade somebody, anybody to go with me? Pretty Prease? It's at the Prince on 7th street and the evite is here. If you want to go let me know!!!

Adventures in Photoshopping

Somebody's Photoshopper went overboard.



I like Lily cause she isn't a poster board for false body image.





I know she lost weight but someone cut the crap out of her arm to an unrealistic proportion.

Oh well.

Beyotch is wearing my Coat!

It's time that I admit it. I have a coat obsession. I have several beautiful winter coats which lie dormant in my closet 11 months out of the year but I find occasions to wear them whenever I can.

Imagine my surprise while I was making my blog rounds when on Pink is the New Blog I see some drunk passed out chick wearing my favorite retro houndstooth pea coat from H&M!


































I am not pleased.

Blues Clues guy is alive, The Office may go on strike and King Tut is exposed for the first time.

SO much has happened today it's madness, dribbling bubbling madness (ten points if you know what movie my new favorite catch phrase has come from)!!!!

Steve Burns not dead, a pedophile or a drug addict.

So that guy from Blues Clues who everyone thought had died from a drug overdose/suicide/who cares is actually alive and has done an interview with MTV to prove it. Apparently this was just another one of those urban legends your parents tell you to make sure you don't do drugs.

It didn't work.







WGA Strike may affect our favorite show. Michael Scott is not pleased.

The WGA walk outs start today. Writers in Los Angeles and New York are picketing to make sure they get a fair share of the revenue made from new technology and aren't screwed out of royalties the way they were when DVD's were introduced to the market.

The problem with this is that many of the cast members on The Office (including B.J Novak, "Ryan" Mindy Kaling, "Kelly" and Paul Lieberstein "Toby") are also writers on the show. NBC has made it clear that as actors they are expected to arrive at work as scheduled which puts them in a tight spot with their responsibilities to the Writers Guild of America.

I totally respect their right to picket, I just hope it doesn't go on for too long.

Although I'm sure Michael Scott wouldn't mind having Toby out of the office for a few days.


King Tut's Sarcophagus opened. The world holds their breathe (plugs their nose).

King Tut's mummy will be on display to the public for the first time ever in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. He'll be kept in a climate controlled glass encasement for viewing if you feel like making the trip by camel to see him.

After looking at his pictures I think I'd rather be in this hemisphere...and curse free.

OMG OMG OMG

I've failed NaBloPoMo. I already missed one day 3 days into the month. GOSH what a dorkus I am.

I was extremely busy yesterday, which I know isn't an excuse but what can I do. I'll continue to sojourn on and finish what I started, blogging everyday for the entire month of November. So, here we go.

Yesterday I woke up at the ripe hour of 6:30 a.m. to take Boyan to West Covina High School for his SAT II subject exam. We got there at 7:45 just in time to wade through the 16-year-olds also there to take the SAT, and find the room where Boyan would be taking his test. The subject tests are only an hour long, so I sat in my car waiting for him while reading the fourth Harry Potter.

After he took the test we raced back to the apt. to get a quick nap in before I drove to L.A. At about 12pm I hopped into my car and sped off to Santa Monica to pick up Jurgen and Carolina to pick them up for the House warming party we were having at 2 p.m. We had to stop off at the grocery story to pick up supplies, and I returned home, food and liquor in hand at 3 p.m. to my friends who were already all there and waiting for me.

Everyone trickled out around 7 p.m. leaving Jurgen and Britta who were staying the night. We grabbed a pizza, walked the dog and headed back to watch some movies.

First we watched The Year of the Dog. It seemed so promising but it was the biggest mistake of my life. I love Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly and Peter Sarsgaard but honestly it was the most dry and mind numbing experience of my life. There were a few scenes in the movie that were funny, most involving Peter Sarsgaard and Laura Dern playing an overly obsessed and protective mom, but other than that just plan ridiculous.

After that we watched Studio Ghibli's The Cat Returns (First dogs then cats, I don't know what we were thinking) which was also strange (read: take hallucinogens before watching film) but had a surprisingly good cast doing the voice overs (anne hathaway, cary elwes and tim curry!).

Woke up this morning, drove Jurgen back to Santa Monica, then drove to Long Beach to meet my parents at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Gardens at CSULB. Part of the reason to meet there was to see the gardens, the other part was so my Mom could try to push it on me for a wedding venue for next year. But all in all it was nice. Nothing compared to Kew or Huntington but beautiful none-the-less.

After that we made it to The Auld Dubliner pub in Long Beach and had some yummy food and beers. At the end of the dinner a live Irish band started playing, bag pipes, flute and all. It was wonderful.

So, you see I have been busy! Now that Boyan is done with his first SAT and Halloween is over, life should get back to semi-normal. I'm hoping to make it to the gym a few times this week and even drive around our new neighborhood a bit.

Alright, I hope this long post semi made up for my not posting yesterday. Until tomorrow...

Train kills women, stiletto's to blame

In what they are calling a "freak train accident" two young women, 18 and 23 were killed when their car got stuck on the train tracks.

Apparently when they exited the vehicle they had difficulty walking through the gravel in their heels and out of harms way.

First of all, how pitiful is this photo? Is this really the best they could do? It looks like the cover of some cheap murder/mystery mass market thriller. The only thing that could make it worse would be if they put some fake blood on the heel. Disgusting. Second, how did their car get stuck on the tracks (or near the part off the tracks where there is gravel, aren't most railway crossings on the road)? Third, why didn't they kick off their shoes so they could scramble out of the way? Were they wearing Manolo Mary Janes?

Maybe the title of this article shouldn't be "Train kills women, stiletto's to blame" but "Train kills women, stupidity to blame." Or "Train kills women, Carrie Bradshaw to blame."

ugg.

James Hannaham you're so funny!

James Hannaham over at Salon did a review of Britney Spear's new appropriately named album Blackout. And he began his article with this:

"Britney Spears begins "Blackout," her first album of new material since 2003's "In the Zone," with the defiant, unnecessary assertion, "It's Britney, Bitch." What did she call us? Surely anyone who has seen a magazine in the past five years knows that she is our bitch. Our head-shaving, drug-abusing, rehab-escaping, ProTools-needing, coochie-flashing, K-Fed-marrying, K-Fed-divorcing, child-welfare-endangering, bonkers-going, MTV Video Music Awards-appearance-flubbing bitch."

True that James! Anyone heard the album?

NaBloPoMo Begins

Goooood morning errbody!

I signed up to participate in NaBloPoMo, which is National Blog Posting Month. It's a challenge for all those who are participate to post something on their blog every day in the month of November. Easy enough right? Well, no probably not, but I'm going to try! I spend most of my day at work looking like this, so it shouldn't be too hard to motivate myself.

I also plan to have some surprises, posting snippets of short stories and other things, so stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

Send me pics of your costume and I'll post them! I hope you have a spOoky day!

Facebook could face legal trouble over snooping

I f*cking hope so.

Read more here.

Are you in the market for...

My Folk Lover by Catherine Campbell

I am so so so happy that I can finally give credit to an artist I've been admiring (read: stalking) on the internet. Her name is Catherine Campbell, I found her on deviantART and I just love her work. She does tons of prints as well as working with textiles, and I just think she's fabulous. You can visit her blog here, she also has a shop, and you can visit her main site here.

love, Love, LOVE.

EWwwww.....facebook.

When facebook execs aren't busy taking their shirts off...they're allowing their employees free reign to troll people's profiles, check out whose profile's other people have been checking, and just overall violate people's privacy.

Valleywag reported today that facebook employees were using their admin access and "Looking at restricted profiles to check out dates. Seeing which profiles a user had viewed. And, in one case, allegedly logging onto a user's account, changing her profile picture to a graphic image, and sending faked messages. Oh, and don't dare ask a Facebooker about any claims of misbehavior -- they'll report you to customer service for "harassment." Facebook may have sophisticated privacy controls. But they don't appear to be deployed at headquarters."

Can't these people get a life? Yuck.

My So-Called Life Marathon, like now.

A newly released MSCL DVD box set is being released tomorrow. Who is going to come over and swoon over Jordan Catalano with me?

ME: you know what is getting released tomorrow?
Mom: Wow! I remembered you really liked this
ME: yea!!!!!
ME: it dealt with so many important things
ME: sex
ME: homosexuality
ME: teenage angst
Mom: in 1994 you were 10
ME: well I related to it
ME: I was mature for my age!

California on Fire

I have a lot of friends in San Diego, I am praying for the safety of you and your families.

Halloween Costumes by Steve Jobs

Underwire posted this tidbit. Isn't it genius?

It's an i-Pup.

I would totally dress Heidi like this for Halloween, but she's a PC user...

Biding my time

I've been writing so much today! On the company blog, on yelp, it's craziness. I wrote a bunch of reviews for my new neighborhood which is very exciting. I plan on doing that more often.

Anyways, on a random note I found this way cool recipe on evite (weird I know right?) which I totally think Im gonna try for my housewarming party (coming up soon, details tk).

Jack-o’-Lantern Cheeseball

• 6 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 3 4-ounce packages goat cheese, softened
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 large pretzel stick (such as Snyder’s “Rods”) broken into a 2-inch piece
• 1 2-ounce container of black poppy seeds
• Pitted green olives, sliced
  

Isn't that just crazy? Click here for full recipe.

With or without cable

What a pickle I am in.

Boyan and I spent our first full weekend in our new apartment and it is SUCH a relief to be done moving. We got internet yesterday (finally) and a refrigerator on Saturday, so it seems we have returned to civilized society from the depths of the dark ages (no internet, no food, no T.V.). There is, however, one last thing that needs to be resolved, which is our T.V.

Our new apartment faces west, which makes it difficult for my beloved Direct TV satellite to find a signal in the southeast sky. Our new landlady, Dottie (who I'm sure I will be writing PLENTY about in the future) informed us that it was impossible to find a signal from our apartment unless the dish was on the roof, which of course is not allowed. But she was more than happy to refer us to her Charter Cable sales rep (she gave me his name and direct line) who I am positive she is in league with (commission anyone?) .

Boyan and I looked up the reviews, they got a 1.87 out of 127 reviews ( you can read them here, some key quotes, "A nest of Vampires. A Den of liars" and "I also will give them one star as zero is not an option.") and prices (WTF! SO EXPENSIVE $80/month?!?!) and decided that we definitely were in a pickle. Either we could forfeit our DirectTV and TiVo (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH) or we could give Charter Cable a try.

We're pissed that our landlord tries to choose our cable provider for us (Last time I checked this was AMERICA! I'm a consumer dammit I get a choice!) and that they are so unaccommodating.

So Boyan and I decided that if it's not DirectTV it's nothing. We'll download the shows we want to watch (ABC already lets you stream their episodes free online) and rent movies to bide our time. Now, those of you who know me know that I am more than a little obsessed with television. Do you think I can do without it? What will become of me? Will I go through withdrawals, shaking convulsing, foaming at the mouth like an addict? Standing outside neighbors windows trying to catch someone watching the Office or Grey's Anatomy? Or will I become more productive? Write more, exercise more? What do you think, can I do it?

Fendi on the Great Wall

swoon...

To see more visit Jezebel's image gallery here.

Who is she kidding?

Oprah on Monday:











Oprah's O Magazine October Issue:
















Look at where her hands are on her waist, is she seriously expecting us to believe this magazine cover? Now, I'm not one to criticize Oprah, I've never been a huge fan or whatever--but come on now. Let's try to be realistic.

Ciao Westwood!

It's been five years since I moved to Westwood village from Newport, and circumstances have made it necessary for me to finally leave the place I have for so long considered home.

I will truly miss walking into the village, having a coffee, going to whole foods, running into random friends on the sidewalk.

I spent four great years at UCLA in Westwood. I met my husband at my favorite cafe on the corner of Gayley and Kinross. I'll miss sitting on the sidewalk and watching the traffic go by. The energy that accompanies each new quarter at UCLA, as students go from the bars during the beginning of the quarter to the cafes during midterms. I'll miss the friends I made at Borders, the people I met at Elysee. But alas, it's time to make new memories. But, it's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday...

I don't need it, but I WANT IT! Hello Kitty Assault Rifle

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!

This hello kitty assault rifle from glam guns is CRAZINESS.

It's got kind of a commando Lolita thing going on. And for only $1000, I could totally do some damage with this ish.

Thanks Jezebel and Boing Boing

Note to Google: Change you Themes!

I can't tell you how excited I was when I started using Google's personalized home page. Or how cool I thought the dynamic themes were! I could watch my little frog practice Tai Chi in the morning, or play on his slip 'n' slide in the afternoon!

But I'll tell you something...I'm bored. There hasn't been ONE new theme since the first induction of the service . Please Google, add some more themes.

I don't need it, but I WANT IT! Leather Booties

What is it about these little leather booties from ALL BLACK that makes my heart swoon? Could it be the stitching detail on the top? Or quite possibly me imagining how cute they would look with my black tights? I could look like a hip Robin Hood! But cuter!

::sigh::

If only I could spare the $159 (or find a generous benefactor) they could be mine tomorrow!

Shameful Obession Confession

I am such a sucker for bad T.V. I can't help but watch shows like Gilmore Girls, Rock of Love, Grey's Anatomy! I know, I know it's awful but I just LOVE this stuff. Most recently, the show I look forward to the most (after the Office, obviously) is Gossip Girl.


Now, I never read any of the books (ok, I read one but I was at camp and desperate for something to read so I borrowed it from a 14-year-old camper) but the show is enthralling!!!

The actors on the show are gorgeous! Penn Badgley, the character who plays Dan Humprey is a Justin Theroux knock-off and only two years younger than me, so I don't feel like a total perv (and how hot is the name Penn? droool...).

The girls in the show Blake Lively and especially Leighton Meester are stunning.

The CW did a great job casting and whoever did wardrobe is a GENIUS. The clothes on the show are just fantastic--all from a designer named Lorick. All very vintage, super feminine, beautiful color palate and fun prints! All of my favorite things! Below are two looks from her recent collection.




SWOON!

What better reasons to watch a show? Good actors, great drama and beautiful clothes! What more can a girl ask for on a Wednesday night?

Britz n the Hood

Britney Spears was all up in my neighborhood ya'll! (and yes she was wearing those boots again)

Yesterday she was shopping at MY target in Culver City (by the iMedia office on Jefferson) then went to dinner at Cabo Cantina in Westwood.

See what you miss when you have a real job.

Make $ Buy Pretty Clothes

The spring lines are out and my propensity for reading blogs such as Jezebel and Fashionista (I know, don't judge me) has also led me to discover some of the prettiest things out this season. It seems like everything is super futuristic and super feminine which, sounds like fun to me!

I'm all about the bright colors, bows, big patterns, pockets and super structured types of things. Here are four pieces I saw that I find myself drooling over.


Prada, I love this mixed patterned look. To some it may be busy and frantic but I rove it!


Fendi, How cool is this!


Elie Saab, I saw this dress first on Fashionista. I love this color and the form of the dress would be super flattering.


Elie Saab, I really like the whole line and this dress (though it could do for a better neckline) has a beautiful print with an artsy color combination that's to die for.

I also noticed some pretty crazy shoes out there. Jezebel made mention of it and referenced the NY times. I could definitely see myself wearing these:



But the rest are just too much for me. What do you think? I think, I can't wait for season 4 of Project Runway to start in November! And, that, I need to win the lottery to afford some of this stuff.

Happy Birthday to Me!

FINALLY! I'm 23. It seems like I have been waiting to be 23 my entire life! Think of all the things I can do now! It's so exciting!

Enough for sarcasm-- I actually had a very fun birthday. All of my very close friends came over and had brunch for dinner!

Sitting down to brunch...for dinner. From the left: Joanish, Ailissa, Natasha, Janea, Stephanie, Britta and Iva. More pictures of the dinner party below

After we ate we decided it was time for some trivia!

Here is me giving Boyan look, or rather the look I always give him when he annoys me.

AFTER trivia it was time for DUET KARAOKE! Mostly Broadway and oh yea, some TLC.

Ailissa and Tanya started it off, but I had to use the "It's my birthday bitches do as I say!" to get them to sing.

Somehow Tanya ended up on the floor.

Here is me doing my best Belle from Beauty in the Beast impression.

My birthday party ended up being a blast! We had a great dinner and a lot of fun joking around and recounting old times.

I ended up drinking too much--the next day my head felt as if there was a knife being shoved into my brain stem while being pressed together by a vice. This last drink, what I called, "The Hot Chocolate Kiss," was more like my kiss of death.

One part Hot chocolate, one part vodka and baileys--all topped with Whipped Cream.

Not the best idea after having a tom collins, mint julep, bloody mary and mimosa but hey, you only turn 23 once right!

Meet George Jetson...

Posh his wife!

im gonna be sick...

I just ate poptarts....

and yesterday I ate mini powdered donuts

ew. what is my problem.